35 Comments:

Beautiful pictures. As per your comments on my blog, yes you are right. George spends much more than Bill ever did, and if I have my facts in order, when Bill Clinton left office we had a 300 billion surplus, which George quickly spent.

Thank your lucky stars you don't live here in LA. I take zillions of photos on my trips and then bore my friends to death with them upon my return. :-) You are getting the abridged version. If you have any interest in reading about some of the places, check out my archives in May and June of this year. I blogged my way through 2 months of travel.

It's not that I work fast it's that I have WAY too much time on my hands. On that note, I see my husband in the other room trying to rearrange furniture and pictures on the wall, so I better hurry and stop him before he dents the wall:)

Not too much sun and tan. I need adventure and culture. I do have cool pics from Australia and the Galapagos Islands when I went SCUBA diving with Stalin's family, but that was before I went digital. :-( I'll check out the NY pics. I love that city!

I thought I have been to some far out places, but you pretty much take the cake. I have a friend that just returned from Moscow, and he was astounded by the way people drive there. I've always stayed away from Asia for fear of boredom. Short of Tienanmen Square, what's to see? I know that may be short-sighted, so please feel free to correct me. I just feel like everyone will confuse me for Air Jordan the whole trip. :-)

BOB - people will definitely think you are an athlete. You will get love. China has a lot to see. The Great Wall, Terracotta Warriors, the Bund in Shanghai. More importantly, however, it is the culture that you have to experience. And China is pretty neat because of its political relevance. Cambodia has Angkor Wat and all the surrounding temples and Thailand has some of the most beautiful beaches in the world.

Cranky & MSR - Thanks for the compliments. I take my photos with the hope that sharing them will inspire others to travel to places off the beaten path.

MSR - you are so right that traveling is a critical ingredient to keeping the mind lubricated and on point. It always amazes me that people with very strong opinions about the world and of other cultures often have never left the country.

Dubrovnik is far more charming. It has so much character compared to Split. You can go to the marina, catch a boat to the many islands off the coast, there are old churches and temples, cute gelatto stands, FANTASTIC food and I went to a photo exhibit of the Iraq war that every pro-war person should be forced to see.

Split is wierd because there is the remnant of a Roman palace, but the towns people built a facade onto the palace walls. Depending on where you are walking, you can't tell the palace is there. There are beautiful beaches and a great hike to the top of the city, but it's not as cozy as Dubrovnik. You go to Split if you want to get drunk on the boardwalk or go shopping at any store you can find here in the U.S. We enjoyed it because we did a homestay away from the tourist areas, shopped at the local markets and cooked our own food at home. But I'd go back to Dubrovnik any day. Slovenia is also one of the most beautiful countries I have ever visited (up there with Turkey). Most people haven't even heard of it, but it's great for outdoorsy people.

Guess when you are an "Army Brat", (My Dad was a Major in the Army), you don't appreciate the travel as much as you do when you get older.

But, I do remember and cherrish my travels overseas and have had quite a few more when I was in Upper Management in some of my Carrers after my service in the military.

As V.P. of Marketing for the worlds largest metal detector manufacturer (over 200 employees), I got to send myself to Greece, Australia, England, France, Canada, and other nice places.

Korea, Austria, Italy, Germany and other nice places were thanks to my Dad and his assignments in the Army. I am sure I missed a few we went to but, I am envious of the trip you just took because when I retire I want to just travel and Golf, (oh, and blog).... :)

And as the picture focused in, you could see the writing on the headstone, and it gave his awards - Purple Heart, Bronze Star - showed that he died in Iraq, gave his date of birth, date of death, he was 20 years old. And then at the very top of the head stone, it didn't have a Christian cross. It didn't have a Star of David. It has a crescent and star of the Islamic faith.
And his name was Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan. And he was an American. He was born in New Jersey. He was fourteen years old at the time of 9/11, and he waited until he could serve his country and he gave his life.